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Data And Variables

Data And Variables. Chapter 18. name (the letter sequence used to refer to something). value (the thing itself). Names vs. Values. Michael Jordan. Names Have Changing Values.

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Data And Variables

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  1. Data And Variables Chapter 18

  2. name (the letter sequence used to refer to something) value (the thing itself) Names vs. Values Michael Jordan

  3. Names Have Changing Values • We do not tend to distinguish between names and values, because things do not magically transform into other things. • In programming, names and values are separable. • Think of names as offices or titles, like "U.S. President" • Example: • Previous values of the name "U.S. President":

  4. Another way to think of names is as labeled boxes. We refer to these labeled boxes as variables. variable: a piece of your computer's memory that is given a name and can store a value value variable U.S. President Names Have Changing Values

  5. Identifier • identifier: the letter sequence that makes up a variable's name • Must begin with a letter, underscore (_), or dollar sign ($) • Following characters can also include digits • Cannot contain spaces • Identifiers are case-sensitive. • Example: Fred and fred and FrEd are NOT the same.

  6. Valid X x height Time_of_day oOoOoOo w1o2o3h4o5o Identifiers_can_be_long_but_typing_them_can_be_a_pain Variables should have meaningful identifiers that are descriptive of the value stored in the variable. Invalid Michael Jordan 1stValue yay! mininum-number space not allowed Examples

  7. Keywords • The following list are keywords that have special meaning in JavaScript and thus may not be used as identifiers. abstract boolean break byte case catch char class const continue debugger default delete do double else enum export extends false final finally float for function goto if implements import in instanceof int interface long native new null package private protected public return short static super switch synchronized this throw throws transient true try typeof var void volatile while with

  8. Keywords • As JavaScript is case-sensitive, you could technically use Class or cLaSs as identifiers, but this is very confusing and thus strongly discouraged.

  9. Declaring Variables • Have to tell computer what variables you want. • Variable declaration syntax: var<identifer>; • Examples: var x; var myGPA;

  10. Syntax • syntax: set of legal structures and commands that can be used • Example: • Every basic statement ends with a semi-colon.

  11. Declaring Variables • Declaring a variable sets aside a piece of memory in which you can store a value. var x; var y; • Inside the computer: x: ? y: ? (The memory has no value yet. It is undefined.)

  12. Declaring Multiple Variable At Once • Can declare multiple variables at once: var<name>,<name>,…,<name>; • Example: var x, y, z; x: ? y: ? z: ?

  13. Exercise • What is the difference between the following two sets of variable declarations? var Alpha, Beta; var beta, alpha; • Both will create two variables. However, the two statements will declare different variables, because JavaScript is case-sensitive. • The order of the variables in a declaration is unimportant.

  14. Expression • expression: data value or a set of operations that produces a value • Examples: 1 + 4 * 3 3 (1 - 2) / 3 * 4 -2382 "yay!" 'hello' see slide #28 on "Strings"

  15. Operators • Arithmetic operators we will use: • + addition • - subtraction or negation • * multiplication • / division

  16. Evaluating Expressions • When the computer executes (runs) a program and encounters an expression, the expression is evaluated (i.e., computed). • Example: 3 * 4evaluates to 12

  17. Precedence: Remember PEMDAS? • precedence: order in which operations are computed in an expression • Operators on the same level are evaluated from left to right. Example: 1 - 2 + 3 is 2 (not -4) • Spacing does not affect order of evaluation. Example: 1+3 * 4-2 is 11

  18. Assigning Values To Variables • assignment statement: statement that stores a value into a variable • Assignment statement syntax: <variable>=<expression>; • Examples: myGPA = 3.25; x: 8 myGPA: 3.25 x = 2 * (1 + 3);

  19. Assignment vs. Algebra • The assignment statement is not an algebraic equation! • <variable> = <expression>; means: • "store the value of <expression> into <variable>" • Some people read x = 3 * 4; as • "x gets the value of 3 * 4" • ERROR: 3 = 1 + 2; is an illegal statement, because 3 is not a variable.

  20. Assigning Values To Variables • We often know an initial value for the variables we declare. • A variable can be declared and assigned an initial value in the same statement. • Declaration/initialization statement syntax: var<identifier> = <expression>; • Example: var taxRate = 0.088;

  21. Declaring/Initializing Multiple Variables • Can declare/initialize multiple variables at once: var<name> = <exp>,…,<name> = <exp>; • Examples: var taxRate = 0.088, balance, years = 15; taxRate: 0.088 balance: ? years: 15

  22. Using Variables • Once a variable has been assigned a value, it can be used in expressions. var x = 2 * 4; var y = x * 5 - 1; • The above statement is equivalent to: var y = 8 * 5 - 1;

  23. Assigning Variables • A variable can be assigned a value more than once. • Example: var x = 1.5;x = 3;x = 4 + 7; // x now has a // value of 11

  24. Assignment Conundrum • What happens when a variable is used on both sides of an assignment statement? var x = 3; x = x + 2; // what happens? Answer: x now has a value of 5.

  25. Exercise var x; x = 3; var y; y = x; x = 5; • What is in x? What is in y? • x has the value of 5 • y has the value of 3

  26. What Can We Put In Variables? • For now, we will use three types of data: • number • string • Boolean

  27. Valid: 0.088 -273 1000000 Invalid: 8.8% $99 1,234 20kg Writing Numbers • Do not write units, percent signs, dollar signs, or commas.

  28. String • string: A sequence of text characters. • Start and end with single or double quotation mark characters • Starting and ending quotation marks must match (both single or both double) • Examples: 'hello' "This is a string" "This, too, is a string. It can be very long!" 'Bob said: "You stink!"'

  29. More On Strings • A string may not span across multiple lines. "This is not a legal string." • The minimum number of characters in a string is zero, which is called the empty string. • Examples: "" ''

  30. Boolean • There are only two Boolean values • true • false • Remember, JavaScript is case-sensitive, so False is not a Boolean value. • Boolean values will be used when we discuss conditionals in a future lecture.

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